“Ad augusta per angusta” – through adversity to glory – was the banner in the south stand of the Metropolitano, and it was true. How true it was, even more than they had expected. They faced struggles and endured suffering, a stormy evening in which even the manager was injured. In the end, however, glory awaited Atlético Madrid.
A game that could have gone either way, won or lost on several occasions, eventually went to the wire. And there, at 23.43 local time, Lautaro Martínez sent his ninth penalty kick high into the north end.
For the first time in 2024, Internazionale did not win a football match, and it cost them dearly. It had been almost ten years since the last shot in this competitionrangaistuspotkukilpailu, nyt niitä on ollut kaksi yhtä in many days. 38 shots had been fired here, Cheap Atlético De Madrid Women’s Football Shirts won the match 2-1, but they would need nine more shots to win this battle.
Last year’s finalists are out; Atlético are in, as substitute Memphis Depay took them to extra time with a late goal and an almost superhuman performance, then banged his spot-kick into the back of the net before Jan Oblak could make two saves to send them through.
The first-leg defeat was overturned. So was the first goal conceded in the second leg. Atlético had also won Saúl Ñíguez’s second penalty. He was saved by Yann Sommer, but Alexis Sánchez and Davy Klaassen were saved by Oblak. Atlético had done it, triumph here masking exhaustion. They had been running at full stretch for two hours; everyone had. Even the ball boys had scrambled from the start, as if those opening minutes were the last minutes. But nothing could have been as intense, as heartbreaking, as what came in the closing stages.
It took Atlético just three minutes to get a goal from Stefan Savic – already more than they had managed in the entire first half – and they might have taken the lead when Samuel Lino bounced off Nicolò Barella, broke ahead of Stefan de Vrij and shot hard and low, and Sommer saved.
However, there was a clarity and incisiveness about Inter at the start that suggested the game might actually be decided early on. An example of their ability came when Denzel Dumfries forced Oblak into a double save, and the goal came as early as the 33rd minute.
When Federico Dimarco finished off a clever move set up by Martínez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alessandro Baston and finally Barella, you could be forgiven for thinking it was all over. High up in the away end the Italians lit their phones but they were still waving when Atlético equalised, a slightly comical goal changed the mood here. And eventually the result. Benjamin Pavard made a mess of a clearance, swept, missed and crashed over, leaving Antoine Griezmann alone in goal.
The Frenchman should have added to this when Marcos Llorente set him up at the start of the second half, but he fired past Sommer. When Llorente got away again moments later, Álvaro Morata pushed over when he should have let the ball go. At the other end Cheap Inter Milan Football Shirts should have been the end of the match, as Martínez slipped first Marcus Thuram and then Barella into the net, but they squandered their golden opportunities, leading to a wild and open final minute in which Atlético threw everything at Inter.
Memphis in particular: he went into the game and had a huge impact, having three chances in just a few minutes. He spun a couple of yards from goal, but failed to finish when Ángel Correa created the first scoring chance. Then, in the 85th minute, he blasted a shot inside the post. And then three minutes before the end, he turned sharply in the area and struck a stunning finish to set the place alight.
Diego Simeone stretched injured as he ran to his celebrating players and then ended up with his face on the grass as Griezmann prepared for the Cheap Rodrigo Riquelme Football Shirts the winning goal 20 seconds before the end. This was the moment, but the shot went over. It had hurt, but Riquleme would redeem himself from the spot.
Like the footballers, Simeone got up again, even though his muscles and lungs were screaming. Extra time began with a cross from Yann Bisseck that gave Thuram a chance to get on the end of a header, then Riquelme delivered to Memphis, whose shot was somehow saved by Sommer, and at the other end Martínez nodded a fraction past.
Nerves on edge, clear-cut tackles spotted, desperation everywhere, but heroism and spirit abound. The players were scattered but pushed on to the end, where they faced more adversity and glory.